What do you do with all your ART?

I did all of the above!

I am in the middle of downsizing from a 2000 square foot industrial style space to a 650 square foot condo unit.

I am definitely a process type artist more so than a product focused creator. I enjoy the figuring out how to make different kinds of marks, and how to layer impressions. I might use 20 pieces of paper and get 2 prints that I like or that I think are worthy of framing.

I the 3 years that I was in the the BIG studio I collected:

Lots of process type papers

Tools with potential

Many monoprints, printing plates and stencils

Duplicate supplies

Boxes of books

Found objects that spoke to me

Box of rusted things

More than 15 work benches

There was enough space to hold on to anything that I thought could feed my art making. I was up 4 flights without an elevator, but I still managed to fill the huge space with art and things to make art.

I was quite determined in my purging.

I let go of:

A truck load of papers, prints, drawings and process

Several tables and workspaces

Tools that I thought I would use and did not

I gave FREE art to my family and friends who made the move possible in just 2 weeks. But I still have lots of art in boxes, bags and files.

Selling art seems like a completely different job and mindset from the one that it takes to make the art.

I am still thinking about my options, of what to do with my art. I hope that it does not affect my willingness to make with abandon.

Hi Linda, I found the advice you gave on your Printed Gifts Workshop useful, about dividing up your gelli prints into categories. I have thought about a few ways of using the prints which are not my favourites. They could be over-printed or used for collage. They could be swapped with other artists. They could be sold as craft packs or as printed papers for artists, or as gift wrap. There are lots of things to do with them, but gelli printing is so addictive, that my pile of prints keeps on growing! The answers to your questions are:- Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, No .It doesn’t seem right to throw them away! Good luck. Jane

I’m sitting here reading this when I should be packing. I’m going away for a year and trying to downsize…but I keep reopening my boxes of art supplies. The current dilemma is weather to give away my really big blank canvases that I don’t do anymore.